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Snap Decision by Belichick Is a Case of Numbers in Safety

With the New England Patriots trailing Denver by a point and facing fourth down from their 1 late in the fourth quarter, Coach Bill Belichick told Lonie Paxton to snap the ball out of the end zone.

An intentional safety? Yes, it was an unusual strategy. And it worked to perfection Monday night.

The play stretched the Broncos' lead to 26-23, but it ended up working in the Patriots' favor. New England got a free-kick punt from its 20, instead of a punt from the back of the end zone, got a break on the free kick that put the ball on the Denver 16 and, after holding the Broncos on three downs, got the ball back on its 42 with more than two minutes left.

And that was enough time for the Patriots to drive down the field and score the winning touchdown with 30 seconds to go on an 18-yard pass from Tom Brady to David Givens.

''That was the call of the game,'' Givens said of Belichick's decision to take the safety.

Belichick said: ''We had our timeouts left, so we went ahead and took the safety. We were hoping to get some field position there with the three timeouts and the two-minute warning still outstanding, hoping we could get the ball back and then be able to at least have a shot at the field goal to tie it.''

When Paxton snapped the ball, it struck the left upright. It was still a safety, worth 2 points for Denver.